Stavanger, Norway

Summer is closing in on us and what better way to spend it than with good friends surrounded by the beautiful scenery of Norway. Top that off with the best summer weather you can ask for and it makes for a perfect weekend getaway. We arrived late Friday afternoon to Emily and Tyler's cute home, caught up over a yummy dinner made by the Reynold's, and then went down to the harbor for a few drinks and people watching.

Saturday morning, we headed off to Preikestolen a.k.a. Pulpit Rock for one of the best hikes I've ever done! From the Reynold's place, we drove for about 45 minutes to catch a 10 minute ferry ride across the sea and then another 30 minutes drive to the base of the hike. Unlike Scotland, it's not cheap to hike in Norway, well at least this one wasn't. With the ferry rides across and the car park fee, I think we paid about $100 bucks to do this hike. Anyhow, it was so worth it, a lot of up and downs and climbing rocks but manageable. There were elderly people, kids, people who looked out of shape, and even little westies hiking here. Some people weren't even dressed appropriately; hiking in flip flops or wooden clogs? No thanks.  It was also one of the most crowded hikes I've ever done.  Dodging people was a challenge when you're trying to concentrate climbing up and down rocks without falling. We hiked 8km roundtrip and up a total elevation gain of 300 meters in about 3.5 hours. It was fun! 

Afterwards, we found a nice spot to grill some Norwegian hotdogs, soak up some sun, and relax. 

We were all pretty tired the next morning so took it easy with some light fishing along one of the fjords. I didn't do any fishing but had fun taking pictures =) Such a relaxing spot. In Norway, you can fish in any sea water without a permit, which is the total opposite of Scotland. 

It was about time for us to go home so we headed to the Candle Factory for a typical Norwegian meal and ice cream; the perfect ending to our wonderful weekend. 

Thanks to Emily and Tyler for showing us around!

Experimenting in the Kitchen Part #3

Here are a few new Pinterest recipes I've tried that turned out great!

Pappasito's Fajita! One of our favorite places to eat in Houston, and this was on the money to satisfy that craving. This recipe took some pre-planning as you have to marinade the meat {I used flank steak from Costco} overnight.  I also made fresh salsa to go with it, lots of chopping but worth it in the end!

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers - I've had quinoa at a couple of people's homes and loved it but have never cooked with it so this was my first time and I loved it! Gerald even enjoyed it! I'm actually mixing some leftover that I had {which I froze} with some ground beef today to make tacos, yummy!



Sesame Ginger Salmon - super easy and delicious! we had this two nights in a row actually, because it was so easy!!



Enjoy!

Porches Pottery

It seems every where we travel, I try to find a pottery shop. I use to love all things contemporary and modern, but am now moving towards having a mixed style. I'm starting to really appreciate pottery, antiques, colorful things, mix match everything, but still staying in that clean, contemporary style. We don't own anything rustic, but I'm loving that too! I think I want my future house to be a mix of rustic, modern, contemporary with a bit of character and flair! That's just my Pinterest board speaking! My house will probably look like some one threw up in it, ha!

Well, we heard that Porches Pottery was a popular place to visit and shop in The Algarve so after a day of beach bumming, we went in for a stroll. I loved the simple patterns of the pottery and colors, very relaxing. There were so many items to look at and choose from.

All of the houses and villas along the coast here had name plates outside and I thought, how nice would it be to have one of those in our future home. So, we got one made, along with other items. It arrived yesterday and I couldn't be more happier with the choice. Kudos to Gerald for having an eye out for some of these items as I was a bit overwhelmed and couldn't decide on anything! The house name was my idea though and I can't wait to put it up somewhere. The only thing about this pottery is that it's not oven safe, however, dishwasher safe, so that's fine because I don't plan on cooking anything in them.


Well, that's more pottery to add to our collection and no where to store them. If you happen to see them randomly placed in our house, you know why. We are off to visit some friends in Stavanger, Norway this weekend, so I best get to getting ready, yay! Hope you guys have a wonderful weekend =)

Hello Again, Glasgow!

Gerald's coworker, Paul, invited us down to Glasgow to hang out with him and his fiance, Fiona for a night so we took the train down early Saturday morning and came back mid-afternoon Sunday. The train is nice and convenient, however, when surrounded by loud, drunk people, it could get a bit annoying, especially if you don't have headphones {ahem...Gerald}. Luckily, that bit of it only lasted from Aberdeen to Perth {people were heading to Perth for the horse races}, so it really wasn't too bad. Anyhow, this is our third time in Glasgow, and it's growing on me. The shopping is good, nice restaurants, and I find the people to be extremely friendly. We enjoyed just walking around and browsing the shops, and of course, eating.

We had lunch at the Grill on the Corner, which Gerald claims, to have one of the Top 5 burgers in Scotland. The decor was nice, I miss this about restaurants.

I've been wanting a pair of L.K. Bennett heels {the one that Princess Kate wears all the time} so conveniently for me, there was a store here in Glasgow, and I got my "Sledge's"=)

They recently opened a Forever 21 here! It's huge, but sadly, I couldn't find anything =(

We then wandered out to Glasgow Cathedral, which was surprisingly nice!

Later that night, we met up with Paul and Fiona for dinner at Italian Kitchen and ended the night at Citation for a cocktail. It was nice getting to know Paul and Fiona. Unfortunately, we were too busy chatting and I failed to get a picture of us. Sunday morning, we slept in and then met them up again for brunch at Epicure, before heading back to the 'Deen. If you're looking for a quick getaway from Aberdeen, Glasgow has a lot to offer without the tourist crowds of Edinburgh. Also, lots of bands come through Glasgow while touring, so you might even be able to check out one of your favorites. 

Baby Aliyeva

Sevil and I went out to Pitmedden Gardens and Balmedie Beach to snap a few bump photos of Baby Aliyeva. This is my second time taking maternity pictures for a friend and I've really enjoyed it; I love the glow of expectant mothers =) Out of a little over 200 photos, here are some of my favorites...

Thursday Fun Day!

Today's fun day included lunch at The Store and a maternity photo shoot for my lovely friend, Sevil. Sevil was one of my first friends in Aberdeen. Her husband, Shahin, and Gerald use to work for the same project team. We met at the project's family BBQ at The Ardoe House, which took place just a few weeks after we moved here. Once I heard Sevil was not working as well, she was my new best friend. I would go to her house for tea, we'd meet up in town to shop, have lunch and even used to work out together at David Lloyd's! Yea, that was a LONG time ago! haha. Sevil and her family are moving to Azerbaijan in a couple of days to start their next adventure so I wanted to give her some memories with the soon-to-be new baby in Scotland. She has two beautiful children already so this will be her third bundle of joy. It's simple days like these that makes you appreciate the pure joy of friendship. Congrats on baby #3 and I wish you all the best in your new home:)

 

Here's a sneak peak of her maternity photos, more to come later...